The health condition of hunger striker Giannis Michailidis, who is on his 46th day of hunger strike and is under guard at Lamia General Hospital, is at an extremely critical point.
First of all, I would like to emphasize and make it known that although it is legally foreseen for any prisoner to appoint his personal doctor to examine and monitor him, in this case and despite the relevant permission, I was not allowed to have a clinical examination in person, our communication was between bars and in the presence of the police officer right next to me, thus abolishing medical confidentiality since he was listening and watching all our communication.
Giannis white blood cell count has dropped so far below the lower normal limit that it now poses a threat to the striker. Leukopenia leads to severe immunodeficiency. Platelets are also very low and Thrombocytopenia can cause severe and threatening bleeding. There is anaemia that is getting worse, disturbance in liver function, hypocalcaemia.
Clinically, the striker now reports that at the slightest effort he feels acute precordial pain (signs of myocardial ischaemia) and severe pain in the left kidney. The treating doctors have informed him that he is now at risk of severe osteoporosis.
Giannis extremely difficult situation and his struggle are compounded by the conditions of his detention. Completely isolated in a room – cell with four walls. No window, except for a small skylight on one side, and no television (although the psychiatric examination he underwent when he was admitted to hospital was free of pathological findings). In other words, he is physically and sensorially isolated, without the slightest constant support, supervision and care from his family, his lawyer and his doctor. All this is harmful to the striker, causing him additional stress and contributing to the destabilisation of his body, as it is a kind of torture.
And the paradox is that all this is forced to be done in this torturous way, in the hospital setting, where ethically and morally the rules of hospitalization must not be violated and all patients must be provided with decent conditions.
I, from my part, will once again stress the seriousness of the health of the striker Giannis Michailidis, calling on every competent body to provide an immediate solution in order to avoid any fatal outcome of the strike.
The personal physician of Giannis Michailidis Pantelia Vergopoulou – director of the NHS
| SOURCE: ATHENS INDYMEDIA |